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Merry Christmas from the Compton's Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab! Blessed What a crazy year this has been!  This time last year, we praying for a miracle to have Emmanuel home as soon as possible.  This year, we reflect on the blessings of our new family.  On December 3rd, we celebrated his third birthday and on the 18th we celebrated his five month anniversary of being home.  The last five months have been exciting, fun and challenging in a variety of different ways.  However, God has been perfect in his timing to bless, renew and refresh us.  Emmanuel is doing so well!  His amazing heart and desire to be a good boy is truly teaching us.   I am inspired by his ability to memorize scripture and his desire to hear God's word on my phone.  I truly pray, we are the parents God has called to be and we disciple him in ways of our Lord. Jessica - has completed her first semester of her senior year with 4.0.  We are proud 

Sorry, I know it's been a while since we updated our blog.  We have been home for over 5 weeks.  Hard to believe! Eman is doing great, Kathy is exhausted, and I am trying to a keep everything on a even keel.  Jessica is back at the University of Mobile for her Senior year, and Shannon has started her Junior year at Pelham.   Kathy returns to work and Eman starts Mothers Day Out on September 4th.  We are excited about this next step and so is Eman.  He packs his backpack almost daily.   Health and developmentally Eman is doing really well.  He has parasites and low iron levels, but all that is expected.  He eats and sleeps like a champ, and really only cries after a nap or before meals.  The doctors seem to think the crying before meals maybe is way of mourning.  Okay, so we need to work on the patience side...Mommy and Daddy.     Bonding is amazing! He is so engaging and loves for us to hug him and make over his accidents. The girls are really good wit

The last few days have been life-changing and it's hard to put them into words. We thought it might be helpful to provide a day by day account of our adventures. We've added a few videos to help you feel a part of this journey.    Friday: We arrived at the airport and learned our plans had changed. The decision was made for one of the caregivers to bring Emmanuel to a local restaurant instead of us going to the orphanage. So, we sat at Southern Fried Chicken and waited to see our little Emmanuel.  I couldn’t help but laugh, where this was happening. My father was an executive at Kentucky Friday Chicken, and my family grew up eating chicken at e very big family  event. Kathy and I had not seen him in seven weeks, and this was the first time the girls would have the opportunity to meet their brother. The car pulled up and we were out the door.  He was quiet as we hugged him and told him we loved and missed him.  We later learned he shuts down when he's hungry. He qu

I am not exactly sure what to write at this moment. I am overwhelmed by so many things.  There is still so much to do, but tomorrow at 4:00 PM, we board a plane bound for Africa. The primary goal is, to bring Emmanuel James Compton home forever. On Friday, we will host a going-away party at his orphanage. On Saturday, we will visit another orphanage and deliver supplies, followed by family time at the beach. Our Sunday will be spent at the local market. Monday we will begin our journey home through Amsterdam.   We will stop in Memphis Tuesday evening, to give Eman a break from traveling.  On Weds the 23rd at 10:00 AM, Eman will officially be in Birmingham. What a ride this has been!  We have been touched by the prayers, support, and sacrificial giving. Early on, we realized this is much bigger than our family.  This is a task only God could do!  I also love how he did it, in such a way, only he can get the glory. Our task was not to stand in his way!  Amazingly, the blog has had

This video was taken by Sohrab Beheshtipour in Eman's Orphanage .

Please be in prayer! July 3rd is our exit interview in Ghana.    Our POA (Power of Attorney) will conduct our exit interview on our behalf.    This is one of the last major hurdles.    The next step is our visa print date.    Once we have our visa print date, we will purchase our plane tickets to bring E' man home.    I won't lie...the waiting is exhausting. The expenses just keep coming. However, we have seen God do so many amazing things along this journey.    So, I wanted to share a few of the recent stories with you. As you know, one family paid for the girls to go with us!  How amazing is  that? Two weeks ago, our insurance company agreed to replace our roof which is almost 18 years old. Today we received the bill for the last month of foster care for $210. Yesterday, a family who has adopted, unexpectedly gave us a check for $200. Trust me, at this point, every penny matters.